Uptown groups: Create public space under Wilson 'L' stop

Work to modernize the historic Wilson Red Line "L" station began last year and is set to be completed in fall 2017.

(Chicago Tribune)

Mary WisniewskiChicago Tribune

When most Chicagoans think of the space under the "L" tracks, they think of pigeons, rats, Dumpsters, parked cars and lurking muggers.

But community groups in Uptown want to turn the environment under the renovated Wilson station into something completely different — a place for pedestrians, plants and bike and food truck parking — a stage of sorts for events like farmers markets and public art. They're calling the proposal the "Wilson Underline," and if approved and funded it would be the first "under-the-L" permanent public space in the city.

"The purpose is to really enhance the transformative project the CTA is already doing at the Wilson station to create a public space," said Sara Dinges, executive director of Uptown United, the economic development agency and Chamber of Commerce for the neighborhood. "It's modeled after a lot of great research and projects already happening around the country."

Morning commutes toward the Loop will soon take a few minutes longer for some riders on the CTA Red and Purple/Evanston Express rail lines while a section of track is rebuilt over the next year, CTA officials were to announce Thursday.

Starting March 9 and continuing until spring 2016, southbound...

(Jon Hilkevitch)

She pointed to a New York initiative called "Under the Elevated: Reclaiming Space, Connecting Communities," which is focused on finding uses for areas under highways, bridges and train tracks. That project has included a kiosk under a Bronx elevated station stop with a sound booth playing songs by musicians with Bronx connections.

The CTA is spending $203 million to overhaul the antiquated Wilson station, which will create a new transfer point for the Red and Purple Express lines, modernize the 100-year-old track structure and 93-year-old Beaux Arts station house at Wilson Avenue and Broadway, make the station handicapped-accessible and install artwork. The new platform opened this week for Loop-bound Purple Line Express trains in the morning and southbound Red Line trains all day, and the entire project is projected to be finished by fall of 2017.

The CTA is inviting the public to meet next week with the international artist and engineer who will create a piece that will be displayed at the rehabilitated Wilson station serving the Red Line.

The CTA has commissioned Cecil Balmond, a Sri Lanka-born artist known for his large-scale public displays,...

The CTA is inviting the public to meet next week with the international artist and engineer who will create a piece that will be displayed at the rehabilitated Wilson station serving the Red Line.

The CTA has commissioned Cecil Balmond, a Sri Lanka-born artist known for his large-scale public displays,...

(Jon Hilkevitch)

The "Underline" idea for the station is also supported by the Wilson L Public Space Committee and the Graceland Wilson Neighbors Association, which have been working with recommendations from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Transit Oriented Development Studio. The studio, which is made up of advanced graduate students in Urban Planning, with input from real estate professionals and local stakeholders, got $10,000 from the CTA to come up with ideas for development for the area around the station, and offered a recommendation last year to "utilize the space and bring it to life," said Jim Keene, the studio's program director. The studio is also putting together recommendations for transit-oriented development for parking lots near the Green Line's 63rd Street and Ashland Avenue stop and the Purple Line's Linden station in Wilmette.

Architect Julianne Scherer with the Wilson L Public Space Committee, which is made up of Uptown community members, had a similar idea for the space under the tracks, and there has since been "cross-fertilization" between UIC and neighborhood groups, Keene said. The CTA, which currently plans to use the space under the station for parking, has had multiple conversations with community leaders on the "Underline" proposal, but for now, it's just an idea and there has been no further CTA funding for it, according to Jeff Tolman, a spokesman for the transit agency.

He noted that at public meetings about the Wilson station, people were mostly concerned about more parking and a safe and secure area, and that the agency has a contractual obligation for some parking tied to a previous project. The Wilson L committee is sponsoring an online survey about the use of the space.

Dinges said that the logic behind the "Underline" is that good design will make the area safer. "When you bring positive uses, that leads to safer spaces," she said, citing the "broken windows" theory that posits that well-kept urban areas deter crime. A survey conducted in 2014 by the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Graceland Wilson Neighbors Association found that almost all residents were concerned about safety at the station and the surrounding area, according to UIC.

Dinges said private and public sources to fund the space are being explored. No cost estimate is available.

The space under the Wilson station south to the new planned Sunnyside auxiliary entrance currently contains construction equipment and parked cars, along with some beer cans and liquor bottles. Camille Bingham, 24, a student at Truman College, which is next to the station, said she liked the idea of a well-lit pedestrian space under the tracks.

"I think people would feel more comfortable to come to the area," said Bingham. "This neighborhood is trying to change."

"I don't see a downside if the money is there for it," agreed David McAninch, 47, a Lincoln Square resident who was walking near the station. "This area particularly needs more green space."

But longtime area resident Manny Lopez, 38, expressed skepticism about creating a public space under the "L." "I don't think that will work because it's rough here," Lopez said. "If they had security, it would be OK."

A version of this article appeared in print on March 25, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Uptown groups propose public space under `L' stop" —
Today's paperToday's paper | Subscribe